Family
by SDonnelly
Summary: What if the Donnelly brothers had a little sister? What if Jimmy didn't kill Louie Downtown? What if the brothers let him go after the attack on Sean?  Rated T for some language
1. Wherever You Are

Samantha turns the corner and sees Kevin and Tommy standing by the window.

The two are too far away from her ears to hear their conversation. As she walks in their direction, Tommy put on his coat and turns towards her.

"What's going on?" she asks as she meets him in front of the elevators.

"I'm going out for awhile," he states pressing the down button not making eye contact with his sister.

"Where are you going?" Tommy asks as Kevin slides in beside him.

"Wherever you are," Kevin states.

Samantha stands in front of them blocking the way to the elevator doors. "No," she states firmly.

"Sam," Tommy begins.

"No," Samantha states again as she puts her right hand on Tommy's chest and her left hand on Kevin's, "retaliation is not going to get this family anywhere but dead."

The elevator doors open. Tommy smiles softly at her, "Sam it'll be ok. We will be back in a little while."

"Fine take me with you then," she challenges her brother. Tommy and Kevin glance at each other.

"That's what I thought," she says, the elevator doors close. "Why can't we talk about this?"

"Nothing to talk about," Kevin says as he reaches around his sister to push the down button again.

"Bullshit," Samantha blurts out her voice a little louder than the brothers would like.

"So Jimmy fucked up but you guys let Louie go so why can't we go talk to the Italians. Kevin can pay off the debt and promise never to place a bet with Louie ever again. And as for Jimmy—"

Tommy interrupts his sister, "Jimmy just got arrested for the truck thing. I talked to Frankie; he's going to get him into rehab."

Samantha can tell by the look on Kevin's face that he doesn't like this idea but she thinks it's a good thing, "That's great," she says.

The elevator doors open again.

Tommy looks at his sister, "Sam we have to go."

"No, no you don't" she pleads with her older brother, "how will this solve anything? How?"

As anyone in the neighborhood that knows the Donnellys, they know Jimmy is the hot headed loud mouthed fool, Tommy is the brains of the operations and the protector, Kevin is the nice one with the gambling problem, Sean is the cool headed playboy and Samantha is the rational one and the heart of the family.

As Tommy looks at his sister, her eyes begin to tear up. There are only five people in the world the siblings know they can cry in front of and not be viewed as weak and vulnerable. It's not often this happens anyway.

He puts his hands on her shoulders, "Do you really think we could go to the Italians to talk and they not kill us on sight?"

"I know I don't know everything that goes on with you boys but Tommy this isn't the answer. The reason Sean was beat up was because Jimmy was stupid enough to kidnap Louie. Louie has been let go and is ok. People make mistakes all the time, why can't we try to fix this?"

Samantha has a spell over the brothers; I guess being the only sister will do that to a group of men. No matter how stubborn they are she is twice as much. No matter how much they don't want to listen to what she has to say, they will listen and end up doing what she advises because they know in the end she's usually right.

"They want Jimmy dead Sam," Kevin states.

"Jimmy's now in jail Kev. I think the Italians will cool off if they know Jimmy can't do something stupid for awhile. And then all we have to do is square off your debt. And that you promise them that you will not bet with Louie anymore," Samantha says convincingly.

She looks at Tommy for his approval. Jenny rounds the corner before Tommy can answer his sister.

"Hey," Jenny says as she reaches the trio, "I made sandwiches. Come and eat."

"Yes," Samantha agrees, "let's go eat."

The brothers give in and follow their sister and Jenny back to the waiting room. Maybe there is another way to end this problem, maybe blood doesn't have to be shed.


	2. Let Me Go

"I'm going with you," Samantha states as she shrugs into her jacket.

"The hell you are," Kevin exclaims.

"Hey, it was my idea I should help with the negotiating and I'm thinking you bring a girl along they won't be so quick to pull their guns out," Samantha reasons.

Damn her for always thinking of everything, Kevin thinks to himself. He looks at Tommy and can tell the same thought just crossed his mind.

"We are not using you as a shield," Tommy states.

"Gimme a break," Samantha says brushing off her brother's statement, "let's go."

Tommy grabs her arm before she can take another step, "No."

"Damnit Tommy," she huffs. (Samantha seems to possess a little of each one of her brother's personality traits and when pushed her temper can rival Jimmy's.)

"No," Tommy states again his hand still holding onto her jacket sleeve his grip becoming tighter.

"But I want to be there," she demands, "if something happens I want to be there." She doesn't want another one of her brothers getting hurt. And since the two brothers in question are so anxious about this meeting she wants to be there. If something does happen she may not be able to stop it or help but at least she would be there with them; they would be together. To get that call about Sean while she was at work was one of the worst moments of her life. Tommy tugs on her jacket and brings her into a hug. She twists the fabric of Tommy's shirt with her fists as she leans her forehead against his chest. "Please let me go with you," she whispers. Tommy can hear the pain in her voice and it breaks his heart. He can also hear the hitch that has entered Kevin's breathing. Samantha can feel Tommy rest his cheek on the top of her head. His arms enclose loosely around her shoulders. They stay like that for what seems like hours but it is mere minutes. Samantha quietly pushes away from Tommy, running the back of her hand across her face. "Ok," she sighs glancing up at Tommy, his eyes mirror hers, red around the rims and miserable. "Go but please make sure you come back."

She tries to smooth out the wrinkles that she caused in Tommy's shirt. He takes her hands and looks into her eyes, brown meeting green, "we will Sam, promise."

Samantha stands on her tip toes and throws her arms around his neck giving her brother a proper hug. She lets out another sigh as she lets go and turns to Kevin.

"Your turn," she attempts to make a joke. Kevin opens his arms; she wraps hers around his neck as she did Tommy's. "I'm lucky remember?" he whispers into her ear, "We'll be back and fighting with each other before you know it." Kevin knows his luck doesn't have to do with cards, sports events or whatever he finds to bet on. His luck is his family. Lucky Tommy and he got to Sean when they did and not a minute later. Lucky Jimmy got pinched and put in jail instead of going to see Sal and getting killed. Luck will get them through this nightmare and the ones that are sure to come.

She has been pacing back and forth since they left. She tried to sit down and calmly watch TV but her racing mind would not allow her to. She is going to have to buy her mom a new rug if they don't return soon. She checks her watch, it's been an hour. That's enough time to get down there, talk things through and get back, right? She thinks it is a reasonable amount of time. Every ounce of her being wants to take off running looking for Tommy and Kevin but her rational mind knows if anyone can get Kevin and Jimmy out of this situation it's Tommy. She may be a smart Donnelly too but she doesn't have Tommy's negotiating skills no matter what B.S. she was spinning to her brothers because she wanted to go with them. She was willing to tell them she could walk on water if they would let her go but of course when your siblings know better then you know yourself, the effort is in vain.

She hears the sound of keys and the unlocking of the door.

Tommy is the first one to walk into the apartment he is immediately followed by Kevin. She lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"Hey Sam," Tommy's voice is hoarse. As the light from the lamp hits his face she sees the bruise forming under his right eye, he also has a cut on his top lip and a nasty looking gash across his left cheek.

"Are you ok?" she asks her voice barely above a whisper.

"Yes, we're ok," he assures her. Kevin appears from behind Tommy he too has a few battle wounds, a bloody lip, and a gash above his right eye he is also holding his right side carefully. He probably has a few broken ribs she thinks to herself.

"Sit," she orders her brothers, "I'll get some ice for your faces and tape for your ribs Kevin."

"Here," she says as she hands Tommy a zip lock bag full of ice.

"Thanks." He leans back into the sofa cushions and lays the makeshift ice pack on his eye. He lets out a low hiss when the cold compress makes contact with his skin.

Kevin sits on the opposite end of the sofa; Samantha takes the seat between the two.

"Lift your shirt," she tells Kevin. He does as asked and she tapes his ribs for him. When she's done she hands him his zip lock bag of ice. "Thanks Sam," he utters, he follows his brother's lead and leans back against the cushions and lays the pack on his lip.

Samantha is finally able to relax and leans back against the sofa joining her brothers.

"Aren't you going to ask what happened?" Kevin asks her.

She shakes her head but realizes neither brother can see her because their eyes are closed.

"No," she voices, "Right now I'm just glad you are sitting here with me."


End file.
